Sawyer Mobley, a third-grader at Bel Air Elementary School, just celebrated his one-month anniversary of his new lung or “New Breath Day.” On Jan. 16, 2013, he received a double- lung transplant. As we cried tears of joy and praised God for His miracle, simultaneously we found ourselves praying for the family of the donor who provided this priceless gift.

Luereather Vinson Cobb was the first African-American to run for city office in the fast-growing city of Grovetown. She was also responsible for organizing a crime watch program in the Summerfield subdivision, where she and I lived on Taylor Circle. She owned a personal care home in Evans for 10 years before moving to Grovetown in 1994.

I firmly believe in the Second Amendment rights guaranteed all Americans. The Founding Fathers meant just what they said. I own a pistol, inherited from my father-in-law. I’ve never fired it, though I’m not opposed to it. Growing up, my parents never had a gun in our home. I learned to handle weapons properly in the Army and became a decent shot.

Since we have seen no improvement in our country’s economic and financial position, and since we see no end of the tunnel for an economic revival under our present government with our ever-increasing debt, we might have to become a bit more innovative.

The flat tax has not energized our politicians – nor have term limits or a budget freeze. It seems like we the people don’t own our country anymore. We have become complacent in our great and prosperous country over the years, and half of the people have grabbed onto Uncle Sam for their sustenance.

Almost every day, I am asked to address the difference between food banks and food pantries and which one should we support. There is one food bank in the Augusta area and that is The Golden Harvest Food Bank. Golden Harvest distributes food to families in Columbia County through 12 food pantries.

I have been thinking for some time now about government efforts to restrict our right to own and/or carry firearms. Recently I heard that Vice President Joe Biden said President Obama might try to use the executive order to deal with the issue.

It seems that most Republicans talk of savings only by adjusting Social Security payments, Medicaid or Medicare. But let’s cut full programs first. One cannot cut a percentage of every program because a few million persons will object. One can eliminate a program entirely with fewer objections.

Even Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt rejected the thought of unionized public servants such as teachers and police, while approving unions in private industry. Since then, unions have strong-armed themselves into organizing public servants, and following suit the Washington bureaucracy has established a huge Department of Education taking power and funds from states and localities where it belonged.